WOLVES boss Mick McCarthy watched Michael Kightly produce another sparkling display in his team's 3-2 win at Luton and admitted the winger was performing better than he could have imagined.

WOLVES boss Mick McCarthy watched Michael Kightly produce another sparkling display in his team's 3-2 win at Luton and admitted the winger was performing better than he could have imagined.

Goals from Gary Breen, Andy Keogh - his first for the club - and Karl Henry gave McCarthy's men their fifth consecutive victory and lifted them into the Coca-Cola Championship play-off positions.

A mistake from Luton goalkeeper Marlon Beresford, who let Henry's 30-yard shot in the 66th minute slip through his fingers, handed Wolves their win, but it was Kightly - signed earlier in the season from Conference club Grays for just #25,000 - who caught the eye.

"When you sign players from that level or below, of course you want them to do well and you hope they will," McCarthy said. "From day one, I knew he could play. But I could never have expected him to be as good as he has been.

"Kightly has been a revelation. To see someone performing like that is refreshing. 'Kights' was rejected by Tottenham and Southend, but he has proved that dropping out of the league is not always the worst thing."

McCarthy's men moved into fifth place with this victory, and appear to be running into form at just the right time as the Championship season approaches its denouement.

They face Black Country rivals and fellow promotion contenders West Brom next Sunday, with McCarthy admitting that the win at Kenilworth Road "sets us up nicely" for the clash with Tony Mowbray's team.

After Breen's 10th-minute opener, goals from Lewis Emanuel and Leon Barnett gave the struggling Hatters a half-time lead, but they threw away the chance of three points.

McCarthy continued: "I was not happy with the tosh we produced for the 20 minutes before half-time, because we let them back into the game.

"We had some good fortune for the winner, thanks to their keeper's mistake, and we had to play to the conditions, because it was a difficult pitch.

"Have we found momentum at the right time? It would appear so. I am not going to deny that. But with this league, you are never far away from a kick up the backside to bring you down."